Something, for me personally, that I have always had trouble with, is the concept of enslavement, and the brutality that seems to come with it. I am a huge fan of history, especially American history, and one of the reasons why I love the Civil War era so much is because I struggle with the realities that African Americans faced. It really makes me sad. The simple fact that my own ancestors could be so cruel to a race of people that they regarded as less then themselves, which seems almost ironic, seeing is how our country was founded upon the principles that "all men are created equal," causes me to wonder what it would have been like if the tables were turned.
Suppose in fact, that the supposedly dominate race of men were those of darker skin, and the people who were subservient to them were white. I know that many people back in those days, especially the slave owners who were anything less than loving to their slaves, would have thought twice about how they treated them, if they knew that they could do the same things to them.
For this post, the perspective is about you. One of the great things about this story, is that Stowe does such a great job at displaying the perspectives of both the slave traders, and the slaves, that one can easily put themselves as anyone of the characters, and understand the feelings and events they faced.
So...how do you feel about them? If you put yourself into Eliza's shoes or Haley's would you have done the same things they did? I think if I was in Eliza's place, I would probably have reacted the same way that she did,... but as for Haley, there is no way I could have taken anyone away from their mother, and would have bought both of them regardless.
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Yes, I think that if I was in Eliza's shoes I would have done the exact same thing to keep from loosing my son. To be so insensitive and cruel as Haley was to his slaves, in my opinion, is absolutely shameful and condemning. Sometimes, I think about the state of the world today as well with slaves in other parts of the world. People who willingly choose to abuse and use other people for their own personal gain are being positively sinful. No person has the right to own,force their control over, and makes decisions for another human-being.
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